Grim Shadows
by Knight of Rogues
Summary: I found these in my old school folder from last year, and decided to upload them. I guess they're RWBY characters in their original fairy tales? Take that as you will, and enjoy!
1. Red

**Red**

The quiet calm of the forest surrounded the young girl as she slowly trekked through the grabbing arms of the thickets that littered the ground. This forbidden path was something that most people in the right of mind would try their hardest to avoid. What was this young girl doing, walking so calmly into the shadows?

Her cloak fluttered around her in the gentle breeze, and she hummed a soft tune to herself to brighten the mood. It wouldn't be much longer, and then she'd be on the other side of the woods, home with her mother. Home in safety.

A twig snapped behind her.

A lone wolf sprung out at her from the bushes, but the girl was ready. Reaching behind her, her fingers gripped the familiar, worn grip of her double-headed axe. In a blur of crimson, she was in a ready position, facing her attacker with grim determination.

The wolf snarled in blind, animalistic aggression. Red sighed. This was just a mindless creature, not one of the ones she seeked. Pity. With a sigh, the girl whirled the gleaming pieces of steel around, cleanly decapitating the beast. It's severed head rolled a ways away, hitting a tree stump with a quiet thump.

Red barely had time to smile at the wolf's misfortune before she heard a sharp snarl and felt a raking pain across her back. Whipping around, she caught sight of her attacker. Another wolf, much larger than the first, and backed by three more.

"Smart. Send the weakest member out as a distraction." She smirked, the pain from the animal's claws already fading from her mind. The leader of the pack snarled, barking to it's cohorts for them to attack. The complied eagerly.

Under such circumstances, most people would cower in fear or break into tears, but this red-cloaked girl did neither. As the wolves charged, she waited. And waited. Just as they thought that their jaws would sink into flesh, she was gone without a trace.

"Where is the girl? Where is the Hood?" One of the two that had rushed growled menacingly, his giant head swinging from side to side in an attempt to locate his target. A sound rang out from above him, and he looked up to find the brunette grinning childishly before cocking back her arm.

The pack leader could only watch as the fearsome double-headed axe whipped through the air, embedding itself in the back of his friend. The wolf gave out a last breath before slumping to the ground, his life snuffed out. The leader cursed his luck. Of all the people he had been ordered to kill, it HAD to be The Hood.

The girl flipped to the ground in a majestic arc, head whipping up as she set her sights on the next target. The wolf snarled, narrowing his gleaming eyes as the thrill of the hunt began to seep into his body. The lean muscles the animal had worked up rippled under his coat as he let out a vicious howl.

The wolf charged at Red, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. It swiped at her, causing deep gashes to appear in her leg. She cried out in pain. Smiling wickedly, the attacker whipped around to make another pass at the girl. She stumbled around, the pain rushing through her body and clouding her senses. However, as the beast ran at her with all the speed he could muster, she suddenly dropped. The wolf was surprised. Why would she do something like that.

The answer came in the form of a sharp, dull pain in his abdomen. Looking under himself, he saw one of the axe heads embedded in his gut.

"I have been fooled." He growled raspily before slumping over. The girl pushed his dead body off of her, standing up and turning to face the leader, the only wolf remaining. He knew she was coming for him. She knew he was going to fight back.

The leader of the pack - though there was no longer a pack to lead - charged at Red. Before she could pull one of her usual tricks, however, he leaped over her head, turning in the air and landing with his teeth inches from her leg. She retaliated by spinning around, entangling his jaws in her tattered cloak. He felt a tightening around his throat, and when the red cloth was removed from his eyes, he found out what it was: The smooth, wooden handle of Red's weapon.

"Still feeling lucky?" She hissed. The wolf gave no answer. She tried again.

"Any last words?"

"Why?" He asked, flicking his eyes up to catch what little sight of her he could get. Her face seemed to be the very definition of calm, cold determination.

"I'll tell you why." She spoke softly. Her tone of voice was unexpected, causing the wolf to almost pity her. Almost.

"It was my grandmother, two years ago."

-oo00oo-

Most woodcutters killed wolves and skinned them in hopes of gaining their pelts and meat and claws for trade. John, however, was sure that he was the only one who had cut a wolf open to find a little girl and an old woman.

Said girl now sat next to him as he drove her home on his cart. Silent as a mouse, her eyes were glazed over, concentrating on something. Sighing, John tried to make conversation.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you. It must have been terrifying."

"She's dead, isn't she." The girl said. It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement . After a moment, he nodded soberly. The girl's hands clenched into balled up fists, and she struck the side of her seat.

"I couldn't do anything. I shouldn't have trusted that wolf."

"It was an honest mistake…"

"I was stupid!" She shouted. Her silver eyes stared at him darkly, and he realized just how much pain she was feeling over this. Suddenly, her eyes glanced to his bloodied axe and back to him.

"Teach me how to kill wolves."

"Listen, little girl-"

"Red. Red Riding Hood." She corrected. "And I want to learn how to kill them."

"I don't just kill them for sport, Red." He growled. He didn't like the thought of taking something's life, even something as dark as a wolf. It didn't seem to deter the young child sitting next to him.

"But you know how to do it."

"Yes, I do." There was another awkward pause, the tension becoming so thick that he wasn't even sure his axe could have cut through it. Finally, he let out a tired sigh.

"You have a mother?"

"Yes."

"Then ask her first. If she says yes… I'll teach you what I know."

Her grin was the brightest thing he had seen all morning, but… it wasn't a smile he was accustomed to seeing. This one was full of joyful malice, and grim goals.

"I'm going to kill every wolf there is. I'm going to rid the world of their darkness."

-oo00oo-

"Yeah, I turned out pretty badass." Red Riding Hood finished with a laugh. "The guy showed me how to use an axe without cutting off my own leg, and moved on from there to teach how to build up my muscles to be stronger, and here I am now, killing wolves and saving lives."

"You're killing wolves for no reason."

"You're attacking me, first."

"Because you'll kill us on sight." The wolf couldn't believe the stubbornness of this girl, but his thoughts were cut out as he felt the leather-wrapped wood of the axe handle tighten around his throat.

"Well, sorry I can't stay and chat, but I must be on my way." The girl's gleaming silver eyes looked straight into the wolf's amber ones before she grinned and pulled back on the axe. The wolf heard a snap, and everything went dark for the last time.


	2. Gold

**Gold**

It was the third Thursday of the month. Delivery Day. On this particular day every month, men and women of the Caregiver's Relief Fund came and brought all the donations they had received the weeks prior. Rotating around the kingdom, they would bring toys, clothes, food, and games to the children of various hospitals and orphanages.

Mother Hubbard's Home for Lost Children was the place that came up on the list for this month. The head of the goodwill charity checked out the home's background; it came out clean. Children always went to their foster families happy and without any mental troubles, unlike a few homes the Fund had run into in the past. Everything checked out.

So here they were, faces smiling as the children around them received gifts from these strangers. An old woman - the founder of the home - watched from a short ways away, smiling gently at the kind people before her.

Finally, each child was off, left to their toys and games. As the Fund packed up, however, one of the volunteers noticed a lone girl off to the side. Her golden hair streamed down her back in identical pigtails; her violet eyes stared longingly at the other children, as if begging for them to let her in on their fun. The man didn't understand why she didn't just ask, but he couldn't stand to watch her looking so sadly.

"Hey, Valentine, I'm going to go check in with that kid."

"The little blonde girl?"

"That's the one."

"Alright, Jim, just don't scare her." His co-worker joked before returning to loading their cart with the now-empty crates. Nodding, Jim walked over to the girl. As he drew nearer, he noticed she still was utterly silent. A bit nervously, he waved at her, drawing her lilac eyes towards him.

"Um… hi." No response whatsoever. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"I, uh, noticed you watching the other kids. Why don't you ask them if you can play?" Still no response, but her eyes seemed to soften. He put two and two together.

"Can't speak?" She gave a curt nod, and he sighed, pity filling up inside him. An idea popped into his head.

"Here. I have something for you." Reaching into his knapsack, he pulled out one of the spare toys inside. His fingers clenched around a fuzzy object, he extended it to the girl. The teddy bear's button eyes reflected her own for an instant, and Jim smiled at his good deed.

Without warning, the girl started screaming. Tears streamed down her face as she curled up on the ground, her body wracked in sobs. The volunteer took an involuntary step back, wishing that he could shush her somehow. The old woman looked at the girl with sorrow before calling a name. A gentle looking man exited the building nearby, gingerly helping the girl up and leading her into the building. All the while, she continued to cry.

"What did I do wrong?" He asked the woman, gesturing to the girl. "I barely said a word to her-"

"No, don't worry. It's not your fault." She sighed, shaking her head. "The poor child has been through so much. It was your gift to her."

"T-The bear?!" He asked incredulously. His eyes turned to the fluffy animal that had remained in his hand the entire time. Softly, he asked the air.

"What could she possibly have been through?"

-oo00oo-

Goldilocks sprinted through the woods, desperate to escape the raging bears behind her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as the daringness of what she had just done filled her head. No one else could say that they had snuck into the house of a family of bears and survived, now could they?

As the roaring quieted into the distance, however, she began to realize that she hadn't been paying any attention whatsoever to the direction she had been going in during her escape. Slowing to a stop, she looked at her surroundings; they were unfamiliar to her.

The euphoria faded away, leaving her with a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was lost, alone, and starting to get hungry. The sprint from the bear's house had caused her to burn off any energy she had gained during her stolen meal. To make matters worse, it was getting dark.

"This is just great." She muttered to herself, wiping a strand of golden hair from her face. Lilac eyes scanned the surrounding area, and she spotted a small hollow in the giant cliff face to her side. Grinning, she walked over and explored it a bit. Finding the mossy floor to her liking, she settled in.

After using a box of matches in her pocket to start a small fire, she settled in against the wall and stared at the twilight sky as the light faded out and was replaced by the empty darkness of a moonless night. Sighing in a content tone, she pulled out a tiny book from her other pocket and wrote in tiny letters:

 _Escaped the bears today. Survived long enough to even get a small nap in. Got lost in the woods, but am hoping to get home tomorrow. It's rather fun camping outside, with a mini fire and everything. Not like it was at all necessary; the bears are perfectly civilized, and were merely expressing their displeasure. I can reason with them. Right?_

She dropped her pen as she yawned, her mouth widening as she realized just how tired she really was. Settling into the moss below her, she closed her violet eyes. Her last word in her diary kept replaying itself in her head.

 _Right?_

-oo00oo-

The next morning, the girl awoke to find herself well-rested and prepared to take on the rest of the world. Crawling past the long-dead fire, she scanned her surroundings once more, no longer seeing it in the fading light of the evening - and she knew where she was.

Running towards the now noticeable path, she took off in the direction of warm food and loving family. The woods were fun, but nothing beat a hug from her father and a meal made by her mother.

The house was in view now, the roof rising over the horizon. Her father had built that house with his bare hands when he had married her mom. The wood never even dared to creak, and the ground beneath it never dared to shift. That was just how her father had made it.

The distance between her and the door closed, and she sprung onto the doorstep, whipping the door open - to have it fall off it's hinges. A horrible smell swamped her, causing her to gag as she pushed into the house out of curiosity.

"Mom? Dad? I'm home…"

As she stepped into the living room, she gasped to find the furniture destroyed. The curtains hung tattered and scratched. The scratches extended onto the walls, deep gouges cutting through the seemingly ancient walls. Fear filled Goldilocks' heart, and she dashed up the stairs that had always seemed surprisingly short, but now seemed to go on forever.

She neared her parent's bedroom.

The smell was stronger here, and as soon as she opened the door, she reeled back. Not from the smell, but from the source. Tears started to come now as she brought herself to gaze on the objects that reeked so badly. She forced herself to gaze on her dead parents.

As she stepped in, trying to make herself think that just embracing them would bring their mauled corpses back to life, she stepped on something that crinkled under her foot. Looking down, she found a note, scrawled in terrible handwriting, and using a red liquid that she knew was the blood of her blood.

She picked it up as calmly as she could, her hand shaking furiously as she read it.

'Someone was living a perfect, peaceful life.' The note said. 'And now it's all gone and dead.'

Her eyes burned into the paper. She knew who - no, _what_ had done this. She knew that they were monsters. She had been wrong about them. They weren't civilized at all. They were cruel creatures who could only seek revenge for the little things in life.

Then voices picked up. It was hard for her to make them out, but they started to get louder, and louder, and more distinct. All too suddenly, she knew _exactly_ what they were saying.

It's all your fault.

Her knees folded, and she felt as if she had punched in the stomach. Goldilocks wasn't a weak person. She knew how to handle most situations. This wasn't something she could fight off, however. The voices wouldn't leave her alone.

Your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault.

A scream ripped from her mouth as she realized that the mangled scene before her was all her fault. All over some porridge, a broken chair, and a lazy afternoon nap.


	3. Shadow

**Shadow**

An elegant, dark-green carriage pulled up in front of the gothic manor. An elegant woman in a similarly colored dress stared up at building with a faint smile dancing across her lips. Making her way up the stone stairs, she lightly knocked on the door lightly. A man in a suit arrived shortly afterwards, opening it a crack before expanding the entrance wider and inviting her in.

"Dutchess, Lady Belladonna shall be out momentarily." He said as he led her to the cozy dining room, seating her at the candlelit table. "If you would please wait here."

"But of course. Thank you." Emerald said with a smile, dismissing the butler. With a bow, he exited the room. Sighing, she closed her crimson eyes for what seemed like an instant.

"I can't have you falling asleep on me." A voice said, cracking through the darkness. Emerald whipped her eyes open to see a beauty of a woman standing across from her, wearing an elegant black dress that complimented her figure. Matching black hair fell off of one side of her head, and amber eyes were staring right at her.

"Blake! You scared me!"

"Sorry, sorry." The woman smiled, surprising Emerald with a peck on the lips. Memories flooded back as the familiar taste of Blake once again filled her senses, and she smiled. The owner of the house sat down across from her at the miniature table. Clapping her hands, the waiting servants exited the room, shutting the doors behind them.

As soon as the doors clicked shut, the pair embraced each other tightly, holding on as long as they could before pulling away.

"It's been too long, Emerald." Blake smiled warmly at her partner, amber eyes flickering. The dutchess squeezed her girlfriend's hands tightly as they sat down next to each other on the sitting room's sofa, fingers still locked.

"So, Miss Belladonna, how has going for you as of late?" Emerald asked, make her voice sound as stuck up and haughty as she could make it. The raven-haired woman next to her laughed. It was a light, airy sound that many yearned to hear, and few succeeded in doing so.

"Life is quite good, Dutchess Fall." She responded in an equally haughty tone. "Though I doubt you shall have the chance to see much more of _yours_ if you talk like that to me again." Amber and crimson locked before the two broke into laughter, wiping tears from their eyes.

"It _really_ has been too long." The mistress of the house sighed, grasping her friend's hand tightly. Emerald gave a squeeze back before noticing a bottle of wine at the table.

"Aren't you going to give your guest something to drink?" She smirked playfully. Blake winked before pulling a pair of wine glasses from nearby, pouring the fermented liquid into the two containers and handing one to her friend. The blonde-haired girl took the glass gently, sipping at the liquid and noting the aged flavor.

"One of the oldest bottles in the cellar." The beauty before her said, seeming to have read her partner's thoughts. Emerald nearly coughed on her drink.

"You shouldn't have!"

"Only the best for you, my dear." Blake smiled gently, eyes softening. The younger girl suddenly seemed to notice every feature of the woman before her. The elegant curves of her body; the waterfall of raven-black hair; the gleaming, almost glowing amber eyes; the fair, pale skin that made her reddish lips stand out all the more. These combined things all amounted to one thing: Emerald Fall loved Blake Belladonna with all her heart.

"However," the woman continued, drawing Emerald out of her thoughts. Her eyes locked with those of her partner.

"I called for you for a reason other than." The girl sat up, eagerly listening to her partner now. Blake seemed to hesitate before starting in on whatever was on her mind.

"There's… something wrong. I'm sick with something, and I don't know the cure."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? We need to get you to a doctor before it gets dangerous!" Emerald shouted, standing up quickly as if her girlfriend was about to collapse at any moment. The raven-haired woman held up a hand in a motion for her to stop.

"That's been tried already, and they had no idea what to do. Besides, it's not a sickness of the body." Blake paused, her eyes burning into the floor as the silence settled in. Just when the dutchess thought that the emptiness would suffocate her, her friend spoke again.

"Emerald, there are some instances in life where someone might be forced to do things beyond her control. Instances where the only thing you can do is accept them and move on with life."

"Where's this coming from?"

"From me…" Those burning eyes turned to focus on Emerald, causing the dutchess to shrink under the gaze. Something seemed to be changing in the figure before her, being replaced with something dark and foreboding.

"Blake?! What's wrong?"

"R-Run." The woman stuttered before disappearing completely. At first, Emerald merely thought that the lights in the room had gone out; Perhaps the candles had all gone out at the same time for some strange reason. But her eyes began to adjust, and then she realized that where Blake had been standing a moment before was a giant shadow, shapeless and black as night. Black as death.

The shadow seemed to look around before focusing on what Emerald became all-too-aware of was her. The inky blackness seemed to writhe around, twisting until it formed a humanoid shape. In fact, she would almost have thought it was human from a distance. But it wasn't. It was a monster.

The monster grinned.

-oo00oo-

Emerald ran as fast as she could, her torn dress making the speed much easier to maintain. She could hear the hideous shrieks of the beast behind her, and she pushed herself to run faster in an attempt to block the sounds out.

The mansion seemed to be empty for whatever reason. There wasn't a single servant or butler, and her constant shouting for help had gone unanswered. She was scared, cold, and utterly alone.

The dutchess rounded a corner, only to find herself facing a stone wall. A massive painting was hanging from the wall, and she stood there, staring at it. She was frozen, and knew that the shadow would catch her in no time, but she couldn't rip herself away.

It was a simple painting of Blake, but it had captured all her radiance perfectly. However, as she stared at it harder, she noticed something was different. The Blake in this painting was younger than the Blake that had disappeared earlier that evening. Yet she looked as if she carried many more burdens than than she did now.

"I was 12 there." A voice rang out. Slowly, Emerald turned to face the source. Blake stood there, in all her glory. Shadows swirled around her feet like mist in the early morning, and her eyes seemed like they were on fire.

"What happened?" The dutchess asked, blowing a strand of blonde hair from her face. Blake sighed and walked closer, flinching as her girlfriend stepped away from her.

"Since I was born, I've had this shadow. At first, it didn't show. Around 12, however, it started to spike. I'd lash out at friends and family, and would often become angry for no reason. When I was 16, I blacked out, only to wake up with my parents crying over my bed." She paused. "I killed a woman, Emerald. I killed, and I didn't even know it.

"I eventually realized that this shadow of mine killed to stay alive, and would force me to go along with it no matter what. So, I decided to embrace it, on the condition that the beauty of the person killed would become mine."

"That's a selfish thing to do." Emerald stammered. Blake's eyes flared, and the shadows leapt from the ground.

" _I couldn't do anything else!"_ She screamed, seeming to grow for a second before going back to normal. Rubbing her eyes, she spoke in a much quieter tone.

"But that beauty involved both their physical and inner beauty, and bit by bit, I started tearing myself apart. You don't know what it's like, knowing that every week another person has died by your hand and been stripped of their traits like rags off a dead beggar. You haven't felt the pain of knowing that there was a chance of stopping yourself that you never were bold enough to take."

Blake turned to Emerald, and started to sink into the shadows again. Emerald's heart raced as she realized what was about to happen.

"And now it's your turn. The most beautiful person I know, both inside and out."

The girl took another step back, only to have her back pressed against the wall. She was trapped. There was no way out of this.

As the shadows came closer, Emerald reached into the blackness, only to find no resistance. Fishing around, she gingerly pulled out the face of her beloved, stroking her cheek as she stared into her amber eyes.

"I hope that your soul is the one to break me." Blake whispered, a tear falling down her face. Emerald nodded and stared into the eyes of her love as the shadows filled her, picked at her, stole everything from her. As her very essence drained from her, she stared.

She kept up her love until death did them part.


	4. White

**White**

From her most secret of chambers in the deepest part of her castle, a woman watched the world as shadow consumed it. She held an enchanting figure, but the beauty was not that of innocence and purity; it was instead a cold, heartless beauty that froze people to their cores.

Her mirror before her swirled in a somewhat hazy image of the turmoil that was settling in on the lives of innocents. A little girl, scared into muteness due to self-guilt. Another girl so consumed by a lust for revenge that she barely knows why she's fighting anymore. Two lovers, ripped apart by an internal darkness.

She watched, and she smiled.

"What makes you so happy?" A voice rang out from the surrounding darkness, causing

the queen - for that was what she was - to whip around, making the mirror's image go black. Frantic eyes darted around the room in an attempt to find where the noise came from. She knew that voice.

"Mother? Do you know who I am?"

"S-Snow White?" The woman stammered, terror running through her whole body. She

had been certain of her daughter's death, so how was she here?

"That's right." The voice said, and the queen saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face that direction, she saw her daughter step out from behind a pillar. Her body was covered in a dark cloak, a hood around her head that hid her eyes from sight. A scarf was tied around the lower half of her face.

"I killed you! I poisoned you with my apple!" The queen screamed out, taking a step back.

Her hooded daughter made no movement after her, but instead uttered a single word.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why would you try to kill me? Don't you love me?" The pain in the young girl's voice was

obvious, but the woman's heart had long ago been turned to stone concerning her daughter.

"No, I do not _love_ you." She spat. "It's your beauty, daughter of mine. Your beauty is so great, that it rivals mine. That is simply something I cannot stand for."

"I see." The girl paused, looking down before continuing. "Am I still beautiful?"

"Of course! Look at you! The perfect pose, the elegant curves, the fair skin. You're sickeningly beautiful." Her mother shouted, unable to contain herself. There was a moment of utter silence in the room before Snow White reached for her hood, pulling it back and revealing her ice-blue eyes that bored into the queen's heart. The cold ruler noticed a scar over her left eye that hadn't been there before. Had she received it on the way here?

Then the girl began unravelling the scarf, revealing a sight that the queen wished she could unsee, but had burned itself into her mind.

Snow White's elegant, rosy face had been scarred and maimed horribly. Jagged lines slit by a shaky hand went from either corner of her mouth to her ears, turning it into a grotesque smile. Many smaller scars covered her face, and her beautiful white hair was messy and scraggly. The girl waited for a reaction.

"What… what happened?" The queen asked after a moment, too shocked to fully comprehend the sight before her. Tears started trickling down the scarred face as she stepped closer.

"I… I did this for you! I want you to love me, like a mother should!" She shouted out in a shaky voice that rattled the queen's heart to it's core. The scars stretched horribly as Snow spoke, causing the woman to wince and close her eyes. In the darkness this brought, however, she also was met with silence. When she opened them, Snow White had stopped.

"Perhaps… perhaps you still think I'm beautiful." She said softly. Reaching into her robes, she pulled out a long, curved blade. The queen instantly recognized it as the one that the huntsman she had hired owned, except now it was stained with red. Those ice-blue eyes flicked back at the queen.

"The only other way, then..." She pondered softly before putting on a grim, determined face.

"The only other way is to make you more beautiful than I am."

The queen attempted to spring out of the way, but was seized by a strong pair of hands. She wondered how Snow had become so strong, but all thoughts were interrupted as she saw the jagged blade on the knife raise itself above her. In that moment, she stared death in the face, and paled as the fullness of the situation hit her.

She let out a shriek, but was silenced soon afterwards. Never again would the wicked queen see the light.

When the guards came, they opened the chamber doors only to stumble at the sight inside. A beautiful girl lay on top of the dead body of their queen, sobbing. A blood-stained knife lay discarded nearby.

"Come back, mother…" The girl choked out. The lifeless body gave no response back. Cautiously, the head of the guard stepped closer, and the girl snapped her head up to look coldly at the man.

"Y-You killed her…"

" _I only wanted her to love me!"_ She screamed. The guards piled out of the room in fright, and barred the door behind them.

"What now?" One asked the captain. He sighed, rubbing his temples.

"I dunno. Just… leave her in there, I guess. We can have someone come take a look later."

"I guess that would work-" The captain was interrupted as a shriek sounded from the chamber. The all moved a little quicker, eager to get away from the awful sounds coming from the tortured soul who caused them.

For the first time, they had seen to just what extent a person would go for love.


End file.
